DNC Member Robert Zimmerman: “He had a strong message, without question.”

Former IDP Executive Director Norm Sterzenbach: “O'Malley's doing everything right in the state. He's running a very classic campaign. He's got a good number of organizers out all throughout the state. He's got well seasoned operatives that know what they're doing and know how to win a caucus campaign. I think that on caucus night he will do better than the … Des Moines Register poll.”

Washington Post: “O’Malley delivered a sharp speech casting himself as a candidate of ‘actions, not words.’ He noted his 15 years in executive office in which he raised the minimum wage, froze college tuition and improved the quality of his state’s schools.”

ABC News: “The only candidate to mention the other Democrats by name was O'Malley, who asked Clinton and Sanders to stand with him on cracking down on gun manufacturers.”

WBAL: “There was a healthy showing of Martin O’Malley supporters in the crowd”

The Guardian: “Martin O’Malley ... gave a strong speech too … he drew strong applause at times, particularly when he went after the National Rifle Association as ‘craven and morally bankrupt.’ However, the ultimate testament to his speech came when a group of Sanders supporters briefly chanted ‘Sanders-O’Malley’. His is not a run for the vice-presidency, but it was a telling moment.”

WBOC: “He used this moment to discuss what he has done in Maryland that make him a better candidate than the other two now … Actions, not words was O’Malley’s battle cry for the evening there in iowa.”

CBS News: “Martin O'Malley also capitalized on Iowa issues in his address to the crowd. He, too, tapped into the uniform displeasure with Governor Branstad in the room, and he also mentioned the closing of Maytag in Newton, Iowa -- blaming it on failed trade policies.”

KCRG: “O'Malley spoke at the dinner and defended his experience getting things done within government.”

Jeff Zeleny: “Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said it was time for a new generation to lead.”

Judy Reardon ‏@JudyReardon: Agree. I thought it was a breakout moment for O'Malley #fitn

At the Iowa Democratic Party’s JJ Dinner tonight, Hillary Clinton spoke to Iowans about her vision for America and how she will fight to earn their support in the last 100 days before the state's caucuses on February 1st.

Please see the full remarks below:

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Iowa Democrats! It is great to be back. I want to thank Andy and everyone who's working so hard to rebuild the Iowa Democratic Party from the ground up.

And I have to give -- I have to give a special shout-out to somebody really special, somebody whose birthday is tomorrow, someone who reminds us that sometimes you just have to let them hear you roar. Katy Perry, thank you for being here.

Did any of you see our debate in Las Vegas? You know, when Republicans debate, they compete to insult each other, demean women, and they double down on trickle-down. Actually, it is reality TV, with a cast of characters who don't care much about actual reality.

But there's a big difference. When we Democrats debate, you see something. You see us tackling the hard issues, looking for solutions to our biggest challenges facing our families and our countries, how are we going to raise wages and create more good jobs, how will we respond to climate change and lift up our economy by investing in clean energy, how will we make college affordable and get parents the paid leave they need, how will we, working with our teachers and our families, help our kids get ready to succeed in school. And how are we going to rein in Wall Street and lift up main street, and how much longer can we wait to stand up to the gun lobby and keep our kids and our communities safe in America.

You see, we Democrats are offering real solutions, like President Obama has done for the past six and a half years.

And by his side every step of the way has been Vice President Joe Biden. He has fought passionately for middle class families and middle class values.

Let's show him how much we appreciate Vice President Joe Biden and all he's done for our country. Let's give it up for the vice president. (Cheers, applause.)

You know, I think it's really important in this election to remember what President Obama inherited. The Republicans would like us all to forget, but he inherited the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month.

You know, right after that election, he called me, asked me to come see him in Chicago. I didn't know why. It turned out he wanted me to be Secretary of State.

But when we got there, it was just the two of us, and we were just talking. And he was talking about what he was facing. He said, "You know, it's so much worse than they told us." We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Nine million Americans ended up losing their jobs. And 5 million lost their homes. And listen to this: $13 trillion of family wealth was wiped away.

I don't think President Obama gets the credit he deserves for rescuing our economy from falling into a Great Depression. He saved the auto industry, he imposed tough new rules on Wall Street, and he extended healthcare to 18 million Americans.

That's what you can expect when you vote for Democrats. When there's a Democrat in the White House, America creates more jobs, the economy grows faster, and deficits are smaller.

And even though they hate it when I say this, recessions happen four times more frequently under Republican presidents. So we cannot afford to go back to the Republicans failed policies.

Now, I'm not running for my husband's third term, and I'm not running for Barack Obama's third term. I'm running for my first term. And I'm running as a proud Democrat.

We need to defend the progress we've made under President Obama and build on it until the recovery is secure and all Americans have a chance to raise their incomes. And to believe once again in the basic bargain of America. You know what it is: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead.

But for far too long Republicans and their allies have stacked the deck for those at the top. There is something wrong when the top 25 hedge fund managers earn more in a year than all the kindergarten teachers in America combined;

Or when top CEOs make 300 times what a typical worker does;

Or when corporate profits soar but employees don't share in those profits;

When it's easy for a big corporation to get a tax break but it's still too hard for a small business to get a loan;

When the CEO of a drug company jacks up the price of life-saving medicine by 5,000 percent overnight;

And when the governor of this state vetoes a bipartisan compromise to fund schools and keep mental health facilities open.

And, now, now your governor is threatening to privatize Medicaid -- yeah - and the "Hawk-I" children's health insurance program, something I helped to start in the 1990s. And thousands of Iowans are standing up and saying "enough, and I'm standing with you."

Now, I've got to tell you -- now, you know -- you know that the Republican candidates can't help themselves. They're pushing the same failed policies that crashed our economy before. You know what they are: cutting taxes on the super-wealthy, letting big corporations write their own rules, busting unions, ignoring the middle class.

We've heard all this before, and we know what it does.

And, of course, none of them is serious about climate change. I love it when they're asked about it, you know what their answer is: "I'm not a scientist." Well, why don't they start listening to those who are scientists and understanding what we're up against around the world?

And Republicans in Congress have now voted more than 50 times to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act. They want to force Americans -- yeah, that is worthy of a big bunch of boos, because they want to force Americas to start a contentious health care debate all over again.

Now, I believe we can improve the Affordable Care Act, but we're not going to let them take us back to insurance companies writing their own rules again. You know what that was like. They even charged women more for our coverage than men.

And we sure can't let them take us back to the Wild West on Wall Street, repeat Dodd-Frank, destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Board. We are going to stand firm.

That's why I've proposed tough actions to end the abuses by the big banks and the excessive risk in the so-called shadow banking system. We are going to stop Wall Street hurting main street.

And here we are, everyone here is here because you know what's at stake in this election. No matter who you're for, and that's pretty clear standing up here to see who's sitting where, but we all agree on this: We can't let Republicans keep rigging our elections with secret, unaccountable dark money. We need a Supreme Court that protects the right of every citizen to vote, not the right of every corporation to buy elections.

And I said from the very beginning of my campaign, even if it takes a constitutional amendment, we will overturn Citizens United once and for all.

And, you know, I sometimes wonder whether you sign up to be a Republican candidate for president, they put you into some kind of time machine. And they take you back 50, 70, 100 years, because they keep saying the same out-of-date, out-of-touch things.

We will never let the Republicans cut or privatize Social Security or end Medicare, as some are now promising.

And I'll tell you something else, I am going to back and support what President Obama has done to protect dreamers and their families, to use executive action to prevent deportation. And I have said, if we cannot get comprehensive immigration reform, as we need and as we should, with a real path to citizenship that will actually grow our economy, then I will go as far as I can, even beyond President Obama, to make sure law-abiding, decent, hard-working people in this country are not ripped away from their families.

And don't you wonder -- don't you wonder? You know, for people who claim they hate big government, Republicans sure love using government to step in and make decisions for women about our bodies and our rights.

Well, I'll tell you -- I'll tell you, I will do everything I can to protect a woman's right to choose and to defend Planned Parenthood.

Now, I know -- I know when I talk about these things, Republicans say I'm playing the gender card. I know. Well, if talking about equal pay, paid family leave, affordable child care, and women's health is playing the gender card, deal me in.

But I know, I know and you know, it's not enough just to rail against the Republicans or the billionaires. We actually have to win this election in order to rebuild the middle class and make a positive difference in people's lives.

We have to build an America again where success is measured by how many people work their way into the middle class, not how many CEOs get bonuses; by how many children climb out of poverty, how many families can afford health care, how many young people can go to college without taking on years of debt. That's how we should measure success in this country.

As I said at the debate in Las Vegas, I'm a progressive who likes to get things done.

And I still believe, as a smart man once said, there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what is right with America.

So I hear Donald Trump when he says, we have to "make America great again." Well, here's what I say: America is great. We just have to make it fair and just. We have to make America work for everyone, not just those at the top.

Because I know that when Americans come together, come up with smart solutions and fight to get results, there's no challenge we can't meet.

And at the top of my list of fights we have to wage and win, it's this: Americans need a raise. That's why we must raise the minimum wage. No one who works fulltime should live in poverty.

And I want companies to have incentives to share more of their profits with their employees who help make those profits in the first place.

And companies that ship jobs and profits overseas shouldn't get tax breaks, you should get tax breaks again.

I said I want to be the small business president, and I mean it, because small businesses will create most of the good new jobs of the future. And they should hardware less red tape, easier access to credit, and tax relief.

And to create those new, good-paying jobs, we have to get back to investing in science and medical research. We should establish an infrastructure bank to put Americans to work building our roads, our bridges, our airports, our rails, our broadband networks.

And I believe -- I believe we can make America the world's clean energy superpower by setting and reaching big goals again.

How about this: half a billion solar panels installed in four years, and enough renewable energy produced to power every home in America in ten years.

I know this can be done, because Iowa is already leading the way. You're producing roughly a third of your total electricity from wind and other renewables. I want the rest of country to follow your lead.

And if we want our economy to grow like it should, then we hardware to make sure women who still earn less than men on the job, and women of color who earn least of all, finally get equal pay for equal work. Because when you short-change women, you short-change families and you short-change America.

And my New College Compact will help students and graduates refinance their debt, just like you can with a mortgage or a car loan. And no one will have to borrow a cent to attend community college or pay tuition at a public college or university.

But let me say this: While we fight for a growth and fairness economy that works for everyone, we can't forget the quieter problems that often don't make the headlines.

I'm also fighting for the grandmother who told me how she's raising her grandchild because of her daughter's struggle with drug addiction; for the mom who asked me what she's going to do when her child with autism gets older; for every family trying to cope with untreated mental illness.

I'm fighting for the man I met whose mother has Alzheimer's. He can't afford a full-time caretaker. So you know what he does? He's a teacher, Lilly. He takes -- he takes his mother to work with him.

For LGBT Americans who, despite all our progress, can get married on Saturday and fired on Monday in a lot of states, just because of who they are and who they love.

For our veterans of all ages who served our country with honor and courage and deserve the benefits they've earned, without delays or abuses.

I am fighting to reform criminal justice for every mother and father who worry every day that their child will be stopped by the police just for being African American, because, yes, black lives matter!

And I am fighting to protect our kids in communities from the plague of gun violence. You should be safe when you go to school, when you go to the movies, when you go to church.

That's why I'm proposing common sense gun safety measures like universal background checks, closing the loopholes that let guns fall into the hands of those who shouldn't have them, and repealing that law that shields gun makers and sellers from accountability.

Now, I've been told to stop shouting about ending gun violence. Well, I haven't been shouting, but sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it's shouting. But I won't be silenced, and I hope you won't be either. How many more people have to die before we take action?

Now, folks, I've been at this effort to change and reform our country for a long time, and I haven't won every battle. But I've learned from each one.

I know how to stand my ground and how to find common ground.

That's how I worked with the Republican Congress to help create the Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers 8 million kids.

That's why as a senator, I worked with Republicans to expand health benefits for our National Guard and Reserves, and for the firefighters and police officers who rushed toward danger on 9/11 and later grew sick from their time at Ground Zero.

And as your Secretary of State, I fought for human rights, women's rights, LGBT rights, Internet freedom, American jobs and security.

But I also found common ground, persuading Russia and China to join in imposing the toughest sanctions in history on Iran, and working with Republicans and Democrats to get the 67 votes we needed to ratify a landmark nuclear arms control treaty.

I've spent my life working for children, women, families, and our country, from the kitchen table to the peace table, trying to even the odds for people who have the odds stacked against them. And I'm just getting warmed up.

So I want you to know, I'm listening to you, I'm fighting for you, and with your support, Iowa, I'm going to deliver.

And I didn't learn about fairness, justice, opportunity and the American dream from politics, I learned about it from my own family. My dad, who ran a small business in Chicago printing drapery fabric, taught me that anything good in life is worth working for.

And my mom, who had a hard life, abandoned, mistreated, and working as a maid at the age of 14, told me that at crucial moments people showed her kindness, like that first grade teacher who made sure she had enough to eat when her parents didn't even care enough to make sure of that.

It's one of the many reasons I'm grateful to our educators. Instead of becoming bitter or broken, she became resilient. She taught me that everybody gets knocked down in life, but that doesn't mean you stay down. Get back up. Face your challenges. Solve your problems. Don't just complain about them.

So let me tell you, I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of the most beautiful little girl in the world. And Bill and I will do everything we can to ensure she has every opportunity to succeed in life.

But I don't think you should have to be the granddaughter of a former president to share in the promise of America. The granddaughters and grandsons of factory workers and truck drivers and nurses and farmers should have that same chance too. Every one of America's children and grandchildren should have the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential.

That's what I'm fighting for, for the struggling, the striving, and the successful. I'm fighting for everyone who's ever been knocked down, but refused to be knocked out.

And together, we're going to build an America where there are no ceilings for anyone, where no one gets left behind or left out, and yes, where a father can tell his daughter, you can be anything you want to be, including President of the United States of America.

Thank you, Dr. Maguire. It is a great honor to stand on this stage before you along with Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders—two people for whom I have enormous respect.

My name is Martin O'Malley.

Former Mayor of Baltimore, former Governor of Maryland. I am a life-long Democrat. I am running for President of the United States. I intend to win, and I need your help!

It’s great to be here with all of you.

As I was driving down to Des Moines from Osage today, I couldn’t help but think about my first visit to Iowa. I was 20 years old. Four or five of us drove out in a little Subaru from Maryland.

It was a long drive and my friends dropped me off in Davenport at 6 in the morning at the Greyhound bus station. All I had was my guitar and a duffle bag of winter clothes.

I was here to work on a fledgling, underdog presidential campaign, and over the next several months I fell in love with the State of Iowa and her people.

The best part of running for President is meeting young people who share this same idealism and belief in all things possible.

I know it is is easy to become discouraged by the gridlock in Congress. The division and polarization of our national politics.

So I urge you to do as I do.

If you want to know where our country is headed, talk to young Americans under 30.

You will rarely find among them anyone who denies that climate change is real, or thinks their government shouldn't be doing something about it.

You'll rarely find among them people who want to bash New American Immigrants, or people that want to deny rights to gay couples or their children.

All of this tells me that we are moving to a more connected, more compassionate, and more generous place as a country.

II. OUR TRUE SELVES

On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden spoke eloquently about the values we share: our belief in the dignity of every person, respect for one another, a commitment to advance the common good we share...

He spoke about the growing income inequality in our country -- a growing injustice that threatens to tear our country apart.

He called on us, as Democrats, as Americans, not to run away from the Obama-Biden record of progress, but to build upon what we have achieved.

To be fearless about our progressive values... our ability to solve this problem...and our ability to make our economy work again for all of us.

All of us here tonight agree that we cannot allow Donald Trump or any of the Trump wannabes in this year's Republican field to take over the White House.

But we differ on who is best prepared to lead America forward -- especially in these new times.

Who gives us our best chance as a Party to win in November?

In three months, the people of Iowa will make a critical decision.

It's not about yesterday. It’s not just about today.

It’s about our country -- it is about the future our children will share.

III. ACTIONS, NOT WORDS

While all of the candidates here tonight share progressive values, not all of us have a record of actually getting things done.

I do.

With fifteen years of executive experience -- as Mayor and as a Governor --I have learned how to be a very effective leader. I have learned how to get things done. I am clear about my principles.

Passing a living wage and raising the minimum wage. Freezing college tuition for four years in row.

Actions, not words!

As Governor, I made it easier -- not harder -- for workers to bargain collectively for better wages for all of us.

Actions, not words!

Instead of cutting public education funding, as Governor, I increased funding for public education by 37% and -- memo to Governor Branstad -- ...

We made our public schools the best public schools in America for five years in a row!

Actions, not words!

I brought people together to pass the Dream Act, to pass Marriage Equality, and to pass the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in the nation with background checks and a ban on the sale of combat assault weapons!

Actions, not words!

IV. A GROWING INJUSTICE

My wife Katie and I have four great kids, Grace and Tara, William and Jack -- like you -- there is nothing we wouldn't do to give them better, fully lives with more opportunity than we've had.

(Grace story)

Our country has come a long way since the Wall Street crash of 2008 when millions of families lost their jobs and their homes.

Thanks to President Obama's leadership, we are creating jobs again -- 67 months in a row of positive job creation! -

And seventy percent of us today are earning the same or less than we were twelve years ago.

This is not how our economy is supposed to work. This is not how country is supposed to work.

Injustice does not solve itself.

We must solve it -- with new leadership, and with action.

Actions to make wages go up again for all Americans.

Actions to invest again in our own country's potential. To make college a gateway to opportunity, not a trap-door to a lifetime of crushing debt.

Actions that square our shoulders to the great challenge of climate change -- and makes this challenge our opportunity!

V. AGENDA

As Americans, we make our own future.

We must return to our true selves, and remember:

Our economy is not money, our economy is people – all our people.

A stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth – a stronger middle class is the cause of economic growth.

No American family who works hard and plays by the rules should have to raise their children in poverty!

Therefore we must take action, together, to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour -- wherever and however we can!

We must advance the cause of paid family leave so that all women can participate more fully in the economic life of our nation -- because "when women succeed, America succeeds!"

Over the summer, I put forward my 15 Goals to Rebuild the American Dream:

Making the option of debt-free college a reality within 5 years.

Instead of cutting Social Security -- like all of the Republican candidates want to do -- we must expand Social Security!

I am the first candidate -- but let us hope not the last -- to put forth a plan to move America forward to a 100% clean electric energy grid by 2050, and create 5 million new jobs along the way!

Do we want wages to go up and not down?

Bringing 11 million our neighbors out of the off-the-books, shadow economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform!

Kenia Alejandra Calderon, an Iowa DREAMer is here with us tonight.

Kenia was born in El Salvador and is now a student at Drake. Along the way she’s become a fearless advocate for citizenship rights for herself and millions of Americans like her.

To that immigrant bashing, carnival barker, Donald Trump --

Let us stand up together, and say, the enduring symbol of our nation is not the barbed wire fence,... it is the Statue of Liberty!

VI. BACKBONE

Nothing we care about can be accomplished by words alone.

We must take action.

As Democrats, we must cast aside the worn out politics of the past.

We must find our backbone again to stand up for what is best for our country and best for all Americans!

We must stop giving a free pass to the bullies of Wall Street.

I have never represented Wall Street and, I sure as hell won't be taking economic orders from the big banks of Wall Street when I’m in your White House!

As your President, I will have the independence and the backbone to fight for you: if a bank is too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to manage, then it's too damn big, and it needs to be broken up before it breaks our national economy once again!

Tell me how it is, that not a single Wall Street CEO was ever convicted of a single crime related to the 2008 economic meltdown. Not. A. Single. One.

What have we come to as a nation when you can get pulled over for a broken tail light in our country, but if you wreck the nation’s economy you are untouchable?

Presidential leadership is about the good of the many -- not the greed of the few!

Trade

That is also why I say we must stop sending American jobs and profits overseas with bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Many of us remember NAFTA. We traded away good manufacturing jobs like Maytag's in towns like Newton, and in return, we got back empty promises and empty pockets.

I am fundamentally and adamantly opposed -- as an American -- to secret trade deals that our Congress is forced to vote on before the rest of us are even allowed to read them!

It's not what other countries are doing to us. It is what we are not doing for ourselves!

We need to build up our own American economy!

Gun Violence

And finally, we must have the courage to put our children’s safety—each and every day— ahead of the craven and morally bankrupt interests of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA has one goal—and one goal only—selling as many guns as possible, no matter the cost in lives.

Well that might be their interest -- but that is not what is best for America!

For forty years, they’ve dictated what laws should be written.

It's high time we find our backbone again as Democrats and stand up and say no to the NRA.

As President Obama said, if terrorists had killed 400,000 Americans with guns over the last 15 years, we’d move heaven and earth to stop them.

But Americans have killed 400,000 Americans with guns. And we cower to the political lobbying power of the National Rifle Association!

Enough is enough.

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips lost their daughter Jessie in the mass murder that occurred in that theater in Aurora, Colorado. They are here with us tonight.

What they have endured is unfathomable. But so too is their courage and resolve.

For they set out to transform their grief into action. They went to court to hold accountable those who recklessly armed a mass murderer with 4,000 rounds of ammunition.

They sued the man who sold the ammunition used in the attack. That man didn’t ask what those bullets were for. He didn’t care.

And not only did the Phillips’ case get thrown out of court, they were slapped with $200,000 of court fees because of special immunity to lawsuits that the NRA managed to muscle out of our own Congress. It doesn’t have to be this way.

To save lives we must require universal background checks;

To save lives we must ban the sale of combat assault weapons;

To save lives we must use the buying power of our federal government - the biggest customer gun companies have - and refuse to buy guns from any company that doesn't use the latest and best safety technology;

And to save lives we must stop giving immunity to gun manufacturers and gun dealers who sell weapons of mass murder to criminals and psychopaths!

Senator Sanders join me now. Secretary Clinton join me now and together we can forge a new consensus for change --

Because one American life is worth more than all the gun sales in America.

VII. CONCLUSION

In 100 days, the people of Iowa will decide.

New leadership, or the same old battles?

Actions, or words?

Do we want to get things done or just shout at each other?

It’s not about polls and pundits. It’s about you. You decide whether we move forward or back.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “in matters of fashion, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

In these fast changing times, America needs a President who will stand like a rock.

A weather vane shifts its position every time the winds change.

Effective leaders do not.

I know who I am, I know what I believe, and I am willing to fight for it.

We cannot move beyond today's gridlocked politics by returning to the divisions of our past.

I'm not about that.

I believe we are all in this together.

I believe that to solve our problems we must face tomorrow.

We need new leadership. New ideas. Someone with the courage to stand up for what's right -- even when it's not always popular!

None of us has the answers to all of the problems we face, none of us can predict the future.

But I promise you this: I can govern. I can lead, and I can do so with heart and skill.

A lot of people tell me that I face a tough fight in this race.

And there are also a lot of people who would look you in the eye and tell you that you've got a tough fight giving your children and grandchildren a better life than you've enjoyed...

Well you know what? -- I kind of like the tough fights. I’ve always been drawn to the tough fights.

Perhaps the toughness of the fight is the way the hidden God has of telling us we are fighting for something worth saving!

The American Dream is worth saving.

Our children's future is worth saving.

Our country is worth saving

Our planet is worth saving.

It’s time to join the fight.

I am in this to win this.

I need your help.

Together, you and I can and will rebuild the American Dream.

Thank you.

May God bless Iowa, and may God bless America in our journey together!

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Here are excerpts from prepared remarks by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders for delivery Saturday night to the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner:

"I promise you tonight as your president I will govern based on principle not poll numbers. I pledge to you that every day I will fight for the public interest not the corporate interests. I will not abandon any segment of American society – whether you're gay or black or Latino or poor or working class – just because it is politically expedient at a given time.

"So as we go forth tonight, our job in this election is to build a winning coalition of voters beginning here in Iowa and spreading across this nation who will elect the next Democratic president. I believe I can build that coalition because I know we have begun to build it in huge rallies and small gathering. People are excited to be part of a political revolution that will change this nation and give us a future to believe in.

"In conclusion, let me leave you with words that have inspired me and I think fit our circumstances today. The abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison wrote them when attacking the evils of slavery: 'I am in earnest— I will not equivocate— I will not excuse— I will not retreat a single inch— and I will be heard.'

"Well my friends, let us make sure that everyone knows that on the issues of equality, and justice, and ending a rigged economy that is held in place by a corrupt political system, on battling climate change, on halting the draining of American jobs to faraway places, on these issues and so many more: We are in earnest; We will not equivocate; We will not excuse; We will not retreat a single inch;

"And on the evening of February 1st, in every precinct, in living rooms, in high school gymnasiums, and all across Iowa, we will send a message to our nation and the world... We will be heard."

Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner

October 24, 2015

Iowa, thank you.

Thanks to all of you here tonight for your patriotism, for your love of country and for doing what too few Americans today are doing.

You are not standing on the sidelines complaining. You are not turning your backs on the political process.

You are standing up and fighting back. That’s what you are doing. And that’s what my campaign is about.

When you see the middle class of this country disappearing, and people working two or three jobs so their families can survive, you don’t shrug your shoulders. You fight to raise the minimum wage and pay equity for women workers. You fight for a massive federal jobs program to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of good paying jobs. You fight for an economy that works for working families and the middle class, for our kids and our seniors – and not just for the people on top.

When you see the United States having more income and wealth inequality than almost any major country on earth, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent, you know that that is not moral or sustainable and you demand a tax system that tells Wall Street, corporate America and the wealthiest people in this country that, yes, they are going to have to pay their fair share of taxes.

When you see the United States having more people in jail than any other country on earth – disproportionately African-American and Latino – you are demanding that we invest in jobs and education for our young people, not more jails and incarceration.

When you saw the United States Supreme Court, in the Citizens United case, vote to allow the wealthiest people in this country to spend unlimited amounts of money to elect the candidates they want, you are fighting for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and a presidential candidate who made it absolutely clear that any nominee of his to the court would vote to overturn that disastrous decision.

While many in the Republican Party continue to deny the reality of climate change, you have demanded that we work with other countries in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energies and that we leave our kids and grandchildren a planet that is healthy and habitable.

You are not on the sidelines. You are fighting back and that’s what this campaign is doing.

Six months ago, when I began my campaign for president of the United States and announced that we were going to take on the political and economic establishment of this country, very few pundits took the campaign seriously. I was not widely known. We were at about 3 percent in the polls. We had no money and no political organization.

Well, in the last six months things have changed. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers in every state in this country are working hard on this campaign, including some 7,000 here in Iowa. We have brought out to our rallies and town meetings over 300,000 Americans and have drawn some of the largest crowds of any campaign. And today, I can tell you that we have raised more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country, at this point in a campaign, averaging all of $30 apiece.

The pundits said that, in this day and age, you can’t win a campaign without a super PAC, without raising millions from the wealthiest people in this country. Well I am the only Democratic candidate for president who does not have a Super PAC and we are going to prove them wrong. We will win this election without a Super PAC.

And by the way, eight years ago the experts talked about how another Democratic candidate for president, Barack Obama, couldn’t win. How he was unelectable. Well Iowa, I think we’re going to prove the pundits wrong again. I believe we will make history.

My political life is not as well-known as some other candidates, so let me take a moment to tell you about some of the difficult choices I have had to make, some of the forks in the road I have encountered in my career as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, as a U.S. congressman and as a U.S. senator.

When I was elected mayor of the largest city in my state by 10 votes, I think it would be fair to say it was a shock to the establishment. Nobody thought I would win that election. The Board of Alderman opposed me at every turn. I faced a fork in the road – capitulate or take them on. We decided to fight. The result was that two years later we came close to doubling voter turnout and we elected a slate of progressive candidates prepared to fight for working families. We went to work, implementing innovative housing policies, creating a people oriented waterfront, revitalizing the economy and creating great programs for our kids. Now Burlington is one of America’s most livable cities.

I learned valuable lessons from that experience. Lessons that must be applied today. And that is that when you stand with the middle class and working families and are prepared to take on powerful special interests, people will come out to vote in large numbers.

After I came to Congress, corporate America, Wall Street, the administration in the White House and virtually all of the corporate media pushed for passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. I didn’t believe their arguments. It didn’t make sense to me then that American workers should compete with people making a fraction of our wages. I also opposed CAFTA and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. History proved me right. Since 2001 we have lost nearly 60,000 factories in this country and millions of decent-paying jobs. And let me be clear about the current trade deal that we are debating in Congress, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is not now, nor has it ever been, the gold standard of trade agreements. I did not support it yesterday. I do not support it today. And I will not support it tomorrow. We had a chance months ago to stop it in its tracks on the vote for fast track authority. That vote was the fork in the road and I’m glad I took the right road at the right moment in time.

In 1996, I faced another fork in the road – another very difficult political decision. It was called the Defense of Marriage Act – brought forth by a Republican-led Congress. Its purpose was to write discrimination against gays and lesbians into law. Let us remember, that support for gay rights back in 1996 was not what it is today.

And I’m sorry to tell you that that bill won by an overwhelming majority of 342 to 57 in the House and 85 to 15 in the Senate, big majorities which included too many Democrats. That was not a politically easy vote. Today, some are trying to rewrite history by saying they voted for one anti-gay law to stop something worse. Let us be clear. That’s just not true. There was a small minority opposed to discriminating against our gay brothers and sisters. Not everybody held that position in 1996.

Climate change is real. It is caused by human activity and it already is causing massive devastation all across our planet. It is a very sad moment in American history when almost all Republicans running for president reject science and the need for bold action to combat climate change. Sadly, they prefer to take the super PAC campaign contributions from the Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry rather than to protect the planet for our kids and grandchildren.

And if you agree with me about the urgent need to address the issue of climate change, then you would know immediately what to do about the Keystone pipeline. Honestly, it wasn’t that complicated. Should we support the construction of a pipeline across America and accelerate the extraction of some of the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world? To me, that was a no-brainer and that is why I have opposed the Keystone Pipeline from the beginning.

My friends, I want to bring you back to a very eventful year and a tragic moment in the modern history of our country. The year is 2002. The issue is whether Congress should vote to invade Iraq. Public opinion and most of the media were for the war. And it turned out that big majorities in Congress were too. The vote was 296-133 in the House 77 to 23 in the Senate voted to give President Bush the authority to go to war. Let me tell you that I listened to what Bush had to say, to what Cheney had to say, to what Rumsfeld had to say. I didn’t believe them and I voted no.

If you go to my website, you can see exactly what I said at that point and the fears that I had about the destabilization of that region if we invaded Iraq. It gives me no joy to say that I was largely right about the war. I am proud to tell you when I came to that fork in the road I took the right road even though it was not the popular road at the time.

Throughout my years in Congress I have voted time and again to rein in Wall Street, the big banks and the big insurance companies that control too much wealth and wield too much power in our country. In 1999, I voted against the deregulation of Wall Street, including ending the Glass-Steagall Act. The House vote was 362 to 57. Yes, I was in a small minority. Yes I took on Wall Street which spent $5 billion lobbying for this deregulation. But the vote I cast was the right vote. At a time when the top six banks in this country have assets of almost 60 percent of our gross domestic product and have incredible economic power, the truth is that it is not Congress that regulates Wall Street, it is Wall Street that regulates Congress. That is why I favor breaking up the big banks, because if a bank is too big to fail it is too big to exist.

And today those Wall Street interests are trying to buy the government of the United States with their bundled contributions and their super PACs. Well I don’t take their money and I never will. And I don’t have a super PAC either. Telling the big banks to cut it out is not going to work unless we cut it out. We have to cut out our reliance on their money if we expect to rein them in. That is why we have built a campaign that has received more than a million contributions from hundreds of thousands of contributors. It is unprecedented, and it is a real-world demonstration that together we can beat the old, corrupt and toxic system of campaign finance that is keeping in place a rigged economy that sends all the new wealth to the top. It’s time to break the link between money and special interest favors in politics, and as your president I will.

So my friends, those are the choices I made when I came to the forks in the road. I think they tell you a lot about the choices I will make as president. And my message to you today is the same as it was yesterday, and will be tomorrow. I promise you tonight as your president I will govern based on principle not poll numbers. I pledge to you that every day I will fight for the public interest not the corporate interests. I will not abandon any segment of American society – whether you’re gay or black or Latino or poor or working class – just because it is politically expedient at a given time.

So as we go forth tonight, our job in this election is to build a winning coalition of voters beginning here in Iowa and spreading across this nation who will elect the next Democratic president. I believe I can build that coalition because I know we have begun to build it in huge rallies and small gathering. People are excited to be part of a political revolution that will change this nation and give us a future to believe in.

In conclusion, let me leave you with words that have inspired me and I think fit our circumstances today. The abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison wrote them when attacking the evils of slavery: I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard.

Well my friends, let us make sure that everyone knows that on the issues of equality, and justice, and ending a rigged economy that is held in place by a corrupt political system, on battling climate change, on halting the draining of American jobs to faraway places, on these issues and so many more:

We are in earnest; We will not equivocate; We will not excuse; We will not retreat a single inch;

And on the evening of February 1st, in every precinct, in living rooms, in high school gymnasiums, and all across Iowa, we will send a message to our nation and the world… We will be heard!